In the Face of Love
by ShadowFia
Summary: HGSS postwar. A badly injured Severus found himself in the care of Hermione. He can no longer deny his feelings for her, but can she face the desire as well? Plz R&R, thx


_Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. I am not smart enough to come up with them myself……and no profit made……much to my disappointment._

_As an ESL student, I am happy enough just to be able to write a story, I know there will be a lot of mistakes, so thank you if you can point them out for me……and plz do review, I just love feedbacks……thanks._

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**In the Face of Love**

Chapter one

An unknown force drove her towards the body lying on the ground, not really knowing why; she picked up the injured man. Feeling something sticky on her hand, she removed her hand form under the man and turned it over……blood. Her hand was covered with redness, the blood was still fresh, and its brightness hurt her eyes Yes, that must be why. It had to be, because there was simply no other reason for the tears that were running down her cheeks.

Slowly turned over the unconscious man; she gently tucked his hair behind his ears, revealing the familiar face that was even paler than usual, a thing that everyone thought to be impossible. Trying to carry him to the bed, she realized that he was too heavy for her. Then, the spell came to her mind, yes, how could she have forgotten? "Wingardium Leviosa." Severus, covered in his usual blackness of the robe and unusual redness of the blood, landed softly on the bed. Although the magic was performed with great care so that the movement was as gentle as possible, it still seemed to hurt the man as he let out a moan of pain. The sound of his moan triggered something within her heart, what was it? She didn't seem to catch it, or maybe…she just didn't want to catch it, sometimes it was better to not know.

Doing everything with great care didn't ease the pain she was causing him. Every painful moan came from his mouth; every painful look on his face caused concern……and something more, inside her. Finally taking off his cloak, she couldn't help but turn away at the sight of his injury. Having no choice but to turn her head back and look at the scarred body, she examined the injury closely, a long, deep, terrible wound right across his chest. It was a close call, extremely close, should the wound been half an inch further to the left, he would never have made it here. But he was lucky. Whoever did this was obviously determined to kill him, but he survived, out of pure luck. Smiling at his privileged luck, she conjured up a big bunch of bandages and started to attend to his wounds, it was times like this that she would thank Merlin for the training she had had with Madame Pomfrey. Filled with crushing sorrow, she felt sorry for him. For the miserable life he has lived, _but there is nothing I can do about it, _she told herself fiercely, almost as if trying to warn herself, _the least I can do now is to heal him…… after all, he only suffered because of us._

Days of careful treatment did not see him waking up, apart form the occasional moans he gave and the one and the only time when he cried out something in his sleep, probably in his nightmare; there was no other indication that he was here.

Awakened by a cry, Hermione rushed to the groaning man.

"It's okay, it's okay……let it go, the suffering is beyond you now, they can't hurt you, they can't hurt you anymore……" Trying to calm him with her gentle words, she found herself crying instead, "don't…don't think of it anymore, it's gone, you are safe…you are safe now……"

Tears fell on his ashen face, he stirred in his sleep, the darkness he was in seemed to fade, and rays of light shone on his face. Slowly, he opened his eyes, with eyelids that felt like lead. The first thing he saw was……she, with her big, watery and rich chocolate brown eyes, and the shining tears added a mist of sadness to them. The overwhelming mix of emotions in her eyes threw him off guard, the coldness he built around him had melt before he even noticed, and leaving him stunned, by her beauty, her tears and his own emotions that had somehow occupied his heart which should have been emptied of all emotions as he intended. Realising his lack of control, he quickly recovered and went back to his usual cold self.

"What, may I ask, are you doing, Miss Granger?" Unusual sharpness was used to cover up the embarrassment of losing his cool. Seeing Hermione staring at him with open mouth and evident surprise, relief …and……delight, he felt his heart beating in an remarkable fast pace, _no, it's just because I'm surprised that I'm still alive, that's the one and the _only_ reason. _"Pardon me if I have failed to see what is so interesting that you can not restrain from staring?"

"I……you…you're….I, I'm sorry, "clearly embarrassed, Hermione got up from him, it was indeed a very questionable position, she just hope that he would not make any sarcastic comment on that, otherwise she would really die of humiliation, "I am terribly sorry, I didn't mean to……you came four days ago badly injured, I tried my best to heal you, but you showed no sign of waking up, so, so I was… extremely surprised and shocked to see you waking up, I apologize if…if I cause any, any inconvenience..." Speaking exceedingly fast but trailing off in the end, Hermione made no sense of what she had said.

……

A rumbling sound cut across the silence, a slight redness surfaced on the pasty white. "I…… I'll go and get you something to eat." Unable to contain her laughter, Hermione said quickly and escaped before he could say another word.

Looking at the back of the bushy haired Gryffindor, Severus smiled after recover from the embarrassment. It was not his fault, he hadn't eaten for days. All he could taste in his mouth was blood and some disgusting potions he had been fed by……_Hermione._ He surprised himself by the familiarity he felt towards the girl….._girl, yes, she is only a girl. _But it's not true, anyone can see that she wasn't a girl anymore, she was over 18, she had left school, and she was much more mature for her age……

His thoughts were interrupted by the presence of the delicious-looking food. Eating as graciously as ever, he still managed to finish the food as quick as he could. Moving his eyebrow a little, he caught a glimpse of the girl trying to hide her smile.

Coughing, he put the knife and the fork down and straightened himself, "That was, that was……not bad." Changed his compliment at the sight of the sparkles of hope in her eyes, he regretted his decision almost immediately, because the sparkle faded at his words. The eyes were now filled with disappointment. Although it was beyond him why she would be disappointed, he actually praised the food. If it was before; he would probably say something about it been better than the poison, if not about the same.

In order to regain his strength, Severus started to brew potions, potions that Hermione hasn't even heard of. Although Hermione left Hogwarts with the best Potions mark in years, she was still unable to better the highest Potions mark in Hogwarts History, much to her disappointment. She had had the thought of beating him in his achievements in Potions. It would be hard, of course. She knew it, but she still wanted to try it, she might succeed……one day, who knows? But looking at the man in front of her now, she started to doubt the possibility.

Not only was he working in the fastest way with the most gracious movement one could master, Hermione hadn't even heard of the potion he was brewing! And the Potions Master looked so glum ever since he woke up that Hermione did not dare ask him what it was. In fact, she was so used to be silence by his mere glares in school that she still had not gather up the courage to ask him what exactly happened resulting in his serious injury. She knew it would not be a favourite topic so she decided to leave it until he's in better mood, although she would be as stupid as to hope that he would be in a mood good enough to _want_ to talk, Severus Snape was never renowned for his socializing ability. The best mood he had been in so far was……now. His mood shifted once he stepped into the lab, and he even smiled slightly when he started to brew the potion.

Apparently, he preferred working alone, but Hermione was not renowned to be someone who give up easily. So her stubbornness had enabled her the opportunity of staying with Severus while he brew the potion and watch every step! Looking at the flower on the table, she was not sure if she could stop herself from touching it, it was soooo tempting!

The small black flower glowed slightly in the dark, luring Hermione to explore the unknown; the mysterious atmosphere it conjured was calling to Hermione. Her hand reached out, ready to touch the flower, which she had never seen before, not in any book she had come across. She wanted to touch it, to pick it up, to closely examine it……

"Hermione!"


End file.
